Trending

Killer Inlaudabilis

On the day that Alexander the Great was born, or so the ancients tell us, a man named Herostratus burned down one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

Why? Just for the infamy.

Which is why the Ephesians proscribed mention of the man’s name. That is called a damnatio.*Obviously, that damnatio didn’t stick, for we know his name now. How? Historian Theopompus recorded it for our . . . edification? Vilification?

I say we should follow Ephesian example and not mention by name the recent Florida school shooter/murderer of students. There should be a widespread damnatio in the press and blogosphere against the young man. Let’s not to give him his infamy, and not encourage copycats — nor in any way normalize his horrible act.

Is this a “solution” to the problem of school shootings? Probably not. But there may be none — at least nothing sure-fire.

Yes, a non-blundering FBI might’ve helped.** But virtue-signaling/grandstanding calls for unnamed gun control measures won’t. And treating “mental health” issues more “professionally,” particularly by easing up involuntary commitment law, is probably a recipe for putting away innocent and unpopular people.

So, what to do? Maybe it is this: “Notice those around you who seem isolated, and engage them,” as Robert Myers advises. It is loneliness, he argues, that “causes these shooters to lash out. People with solid connections to other people don’t indiscriminately fire guns at strangers.”

But that’s not an after-the-fact solution.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* FYI, the arsonist’s status as an unspeakable person was called inlaudabilis.

** As if to fit an established pattern, the FBI failed to take seriously enough an early citizen-initiated alert regarding the young man who went on to commit the mass shooting. Prophecy is a tough biz; it is no doubt easier to connect the dots looking back after the fact.

Related Posts

5 Comments

Myers’s comment is ludicrous. Indiscriminately firing guns at strangers is not abnormal; it’s called foreign policy. A nation that conducts drone strikes against wedding parties thousands of miles away should not be surprised when its citizens lose respect for human life. Change can only begin with a dismantling of the warfare state. Don’t hold your breath, folks…

Someone on TV said that Israeli schools keep entrances locked and that in each school, three teachers are trained in response and carry concealed weapons, but no one knows which teachers. He said there have not been any school shootings in Israel.
Might remember that the church shooting in Texas was broken up by a neighbor with a gun, Worth thinking seriously about.
Gun control laws have not been effective since criminals don’t obey them. Murder rates in US cities are highest in cities with the most strict gun laws.

I am deeply saddened that we care so little for our children that we are unwilling to protect them in schools. The Israeli approach is correct: arming a few teachers would protect students, faculty, and staff through deterrence of armed attack. The number of attempts would be greatly reduced, and many lives would be saved.

The anti-gun left wants to ban all guns and sees every school shooting as an opportunity; it wants the issue, not a solution.

Here is a timely story about a young man looking to be infamous: “O’Connor also reportedly noted that he wanted the death count to be high so he would be infamous.” Thanks to his grandmother, he was stopped.